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Lebanon

Lebanon

May 4, 2026

Beirut 6:12 am

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Members of Lebanese security forces stand guard in the perimeter of the Parliament, a day ahead of a parliamentary session to elect a president in Beirut on January 8, 2025. Lebanese political heavyweights held talks on January 8, a day ahead of a parliamentary session to elect a president of the tiny Mediterranean country, already deep in economic and political crisis, and which has been without a president for more than two years. (Photo by ANWAR AMRO / AFP) (Photo by ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images)

Under US pressure, will Lebanon repeal Israel Boycott Law?

The 1955 law criminalizes all dealings with Israel, raising questions about how far Beirut can even go with its current engagement, currently at the ambassadorial level.

Ibrahim AMRO / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Without exit strategy, Israel faces emboldened Hezbollah, limited options on Iran

While President Donald Trump remains undecided on striking Iran again, the Israeli military is sinking deeper into its Lebanon quagmire with a reinforced Hezbollah.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C), alongside US State Department Counselor Michael Needham (2L) and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (2R), speaks during a meeting.

US seeks to train Lebanon army units to disarm Hezbollah: What to know

Funding for such a program remains unclear, though the Pentagon has requested $36 million for fiscal year 2027 to support Lebanon’s army.

ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

Despite Trump pressure to limit Israel's Lebanon attacks, Aoun-Netanyahu meeting still unlikely

As President Donald Trump pressures Israel to limit its strikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah is taking advantage of the situation.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Latest News

'Treason is war for external interests': Lebanon’s Aoun hits back at Hezbollah

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun (L) stands next to the parliament speaker Nabih Berri as he delivers a speech at the parliament building in Beirut Jan. 9, 2025.

Why US, Israel are freezing France out of Lebanon talks

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to journalists as he arrives for an informal meeting of the European Council in Nicosia, Cyprus, April 24, 2026.

In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia pursues quiet diplomacy as Trump pushes Israel normalization

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan (L) disembarks from an airplane upon his arrival at the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut on Jan. 23, 2025.

Analysis

Israel fears Trump angling for Lebanon deal to offset Iran missteps

US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa (R) holds a signed "Make America Great Again" hat while (L-R) US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Lebanon Ambassador to the US Nada Hamadeh Moawad listen to US President Donald Trump speak during a meeting with Lebanon Ambassador to the US and Israel Ambassador to the US, at the White House in Washington, DC on April 23, 2026. US President Donald Trump met Lebanese and Israeli envoys at a new round of peace talks Thursday, with Beirut seeking a one-month extension of a

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Francesco Schiavi

In Bologna, reporting on security, defense, economy, governance

Beatrice Farhat

Associate Editor (Lebanon)

In Beirut, reporting on regional news, culture, conflict

Joyce Karam

Editor-in-Chief

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Hanna Davis

In Beirut, reporting on politics, migration, human rights

Rodayna Raydan

In Boqaata, reporting on culture

Lebanese soldiers gesture while riding on an armoured vehicle as they leave the mountainous border town of Ras Baalbek January 24, 2015. The Lebanese army said on Saturday three more soldiers were killed in fighting on Friday between troops and militants who attacked an army post near the border with Syria. The army said on Friday it lost five soldiers in an attack near the village of Ras Baalbek in an area that has seen regular incursions by Islamist militants fighting in Syria. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah (LE

Lebanese army faces war of attrition

The Lebanese army waits for the authorities to take decisive action and cooperate with Hezbollah and the Syrian regime to fight radical groups in Lebanon.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal talks during a news conference in Doha July 23 ,2014. Meshaal said he was ready to accept a humanitarian truce in Gaza where the Islamist group is fighting an Israeli military offensive, but would not agree to a full ceasefire until the terms had been negotiated. REUTERS/Stringer (QATAR - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3ZVTJ

Hamas begins rapprochement with Hezbollah, Iran

A series of meetings in Beirut have brought Hamas and Hezbollah closer, after their divided stances on the Syrian issue and in light of a possible conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

A man walks past Lebanese Army soldiers patrolling a street in the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood, in Tripoli, northern Lebanon October 23, 2012. Four people were killed and 15 wounded in overnight gun battles in the Lebanese city of Tripoli in a second night of fighting between Sunni and Alawite gunmen loyal to different sides in the war in neighbouring Syria, a military source said on Tuesday. The poster in the background depicts Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON -

Death of Saudi king brings Lebanese leaders together

Several Lebanese officials and delegations, including rivals of the kingdom, have visited Saudi Arabia to pay their condolences for the death of the Saudi king, possibly heralding new breakthroughs in the Lebanese crises.

Could Israel’s strike on Hezbollah in Syria spark Iran nuclear talks?

The latest Israel-Hezbollah confrontation might be a catalyst for a nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran; Iran can ease Saudi Arabia’s security predicament; Netanyahu sees electoral gain in snubbing Obama.

A Lebanese army soldier holds his weapon after being deployed to tighten security, following clashes between Lebanese soldiers and Islamist gunmen in Tripoli, northern Lebanon October 27, 2014. Guns fell silent in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Monday after two days of deadly battles between the army and Islamist gunmen, some of the worst fighting to spill over into Lebanon from Syria's civil war next door. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR4BR7A

Islamic State lists conditions to free Lebanese soldiers

An anonymous Lebanese government source informed Al-Monitor that negotiations between Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra militants and the Lebanese government are reaping results, though with conditions.

Lebanese army soldiers are deployed as part of a new security plan for the city, in the Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, April 1, 2014. Fighting between Tripoli's Sunni Muslims and members of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, has killed at least 28 people over the last two weeks. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT MILITARY) - RTR3JGBK

Lebanese interior minister warns of 'death triangle'

The Islamic State is taking refuge within Lebanon’s borders, where the group appears to be taking advantage of impoverished Lebanese citizens to execute suicide bombings.

The Alawite neighbourhood of Jabal Mohsen is seen through a bullet hole in the window of an apartment in the Sunni Mankoubin district in Lebanon's northern port of Tripoli on August 25, 2012, following clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the city, stoking fears of a spillover of bloodshed. AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO (Photo credit should read ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Poor Tripoli district becomes hotbed for extremists

Mankoubin is one of the impoverished neighborhoods of Tripoli, producing youths who have joined such extremist groups as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State and have carried out attacks in Syria and Iraq, as well as in Lebanon.

A general view shows Roumieh prison, in Roumieh January 12, 2015. Lebanese forces stormed the country's largest prison on Monday where Islamist militants are detained, security sources said, as authorities searched for those behind a double suicide attack at the weekend. Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk headed to Roumieh prison east of Beirut early on Monday and told Reuters the crackdown came after intelligence showed some of the inmates were connected to the bombings, which killed eight. REUTERS/Mohamed A

Arsal kidnappers break silence, contact Lebanese mediator

After a 36-hour silence following the storming of Roumieh prison, the Arsal terrorists holding Lebanese soldiers resumed contact with the government's mediator.

Syrians stand in a queue to get a visa stamp entering Lebanon town during their arrival at the Lebanese Masna'a border point in eastern Bekaa of Lebanon January 22, 2013.
REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3CSRV

Lebanese visa regulations cause more distress for Syrians

The announcement of new regulations requiring Syrians to obtain visas to enter Lebanon has caused consternation and confusion among Syrians as well as in the Lebanese government.

An Israeli soldier looks through binoculars towards the border with Lebanon from above the Israeli town of Metula January 20, 2015. Hezbollah supporters turned out in force on Monday to bury the son of the group's late commander, one of six fighters who died in an Israeli air strike in neighbouring Syria that also killed an Iranian general. Israel has not officially commented on the hit, but an Israeli security source confirmed to Reuters that Israel had carried it out. An Israeli defence official said esca

Hezbollah's three options on Israel

The Lebanese Shiite group has only a few options for responding to the Israeli strike against it in Syria and wants to be careful not to cause an expansion of the conflict onto Lebanese territory.

An Israeli soldier from the Golani brigade takes part in training near the city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights January 19, 2015. An Israeli helicopter strike in Syria killed a commander from Lebanon's Hezbollah and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Moughniyah, Hezbollah said, in a major blow that could lead to reprisal attacks.The strike hit a convoy carrying Jihad Moughniyah and commander Mohamad Issa, known as Abu Issa, in the province of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights,

Israel anticipates Hezbollah's reaction

Israeli security experts estimate that although Hezbollah is not interested in raising tensions with Israel, it will respond to the Jan. 18 attack on its convoy, either in the Golan Heights or against Israeli targets abroad.

Syrians stand in a queue to get a visa stamp to enter Lebanon town during their arrival at the Lebanese Masna'a border point in eastern Bekaa, January 22, 2013. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST) - RTR3CSS0

New visa regulations confuse Syrians

Syrians in Lebanon who have legal residency permits are worried that new regulations will not protect them from being deported.